Colorado School of Mines (Mines) has entered into a strategic agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) to advance critical minerals innovation, commercialization, and workforce development across the full energy and minerals supply chain.
The agreement builds on a strong foundation of critical minerals expertise and assets in Golden, Colo., where Mines, NLR and a growing network of federal and industry partners are developing the nation’s most comprehensive ecosystem to help industry scale and deploy new critical minerals technologies.
“This agreement reflects what makes Colorado School of Mines distinctive – our ability to bring together applied research, industry and government partnerships, and workforce development in ways that move technologies from concept to impact,” said Mines President Paul C. Johnson.
“This strategic partnership with NLR complements our other partnerships with industry and USGS, further cementing Golden, Colorado, as the center of our nation’s expertise, education and innovation related to materials supply chains. Together, we are preparing the next generation of leaders while accelerating innovation and advancing solutions that are essential to secure, resilient U.S. critical materials supply chains.”
Under the agreement, Mines and NLR will pursue coordinated planning, facility sharing, cross-institutional research, student and researcher exchanges, and future funding opportunities spanning critical minerals research, commercialization and education.
Central to the collaboration are two new complementary facilities that will anchor critical mineral innovation in Golden:
• NLR’s Energy Materials and Processing at Scale (EMAPS) facility. Currently under construction on NLR’s South Table Mountain Campus with 60,000 square feet of laboratory space that will enable collaboration with industry partners, universities, and other DOE national laboratories to accelerate laboratory-scale innovations in energy materials to market-ready products and processes.
• Mines’ Critical Minerals Innovation and Commercialization Hub. A newly acquired 50,000-sq.-ft. laboratory and high-bay research facility designed to accelerate innovation and commercialization across the full critical minerals value chain from resource development and processing to manufacturing, recycling and workforce development.
Together, noted Mines, these facilities will provide industry partners with access to specialized infrastructure, pilot scale capabilities, and applied expertise needed to reduce risk, validate technologies, and accelerate commercialization.